I think Diablo 3 has finally beaten Path of Exile for my attention.

[XoRn]

I've played an enjoyed a variety of RPG's over the years from Titan Quest and Grim Dawn to the Torchlight series. Still I find myself coming back to two specific games, Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. About once each year I boot up one or the other and sink a week or two of my time into it.

I should say out right I am not a carrot on a stick kind of guy. If you dangle something in front of me and I don't get it after 20 minutes I will punch you and leave. So it should come as no surprise that I don't really care about the end game (of which, I think POE actually has the more interesting and varied experience).

So why does Diablo 3 win over POE for me? Because as you level in Diablo 3, your options are always available, always expanding. Every level you unlock a new ability or rune, find gear that powers up a particular attack, or get a new companion or companion ability.. Changing tactics is as simple as selecting the abilities you want to use at that moment

The plan in Path of Exile is almost exactly the opposite. You decide a build almost from the get go and then run head long in to the hordes, banking the legendary items you find along the way, and if by the end of the game your sick of the build you have limited options to go another path. It's nice when a build comes together, and I still enjoy Path of Exile, but the freedom to try a competently different build at a moments notice is liberating and more importantly for someone working 50 hours a week, respectful of my gosh danged time.

 

[Lenson]

Check out last epoch

 

[randyl]

What about the Path of Exile end game do you like better? That could actually be a draw for me despite some things I don't like about the PoE experience.

Like you I've played a lot of ARPGs, and some have different appeal. I enjoy Grim Dawn some, but not the end game grind. Grim Dawn also feels like it's trying to offer a lot of complexity like PoE but it falls flat for me. I hate how they periodically tweak a bunch of skills and mechanics and totally ruin old builds.

Path of Exile drove me crazy because like you said, I needed to decide on a build before hand and that bothers me. I never really know what exact build I want until I've had a chance to experiment. For me, experimenting in Path of Exile is fairly costly with rerolling characters and such. I also don't like their monetization with stash slots and expensive cosmetic bundles. I'd rather just pay for the game and earn that stuff through game play.

Diablo 3 I love because of the flexibility. If I outgrow a skill and gear build I can move into something that works better or I find more interesting. I don't really like the end game gear grind chase either, but I usually stop for a while when I hit that point.

Wolcen feels like it's trying to be Path of Exile, but the very limited amount of content doesn't really justify the build learning curve. Also, in the past at least, it all boiled down to various condition builds and that got boring. The atmosphere and combat feels nice though so it's worth an occasional visit.

Last Epoch is pretty neat, but unfinished. The combat needs some work and balance is all over the place. My rogue actually shoots off screen to kill enemies before they appear because she's so squishy even with survival traits stacked. The loot chase, which is one of my favorite things, is rather boring. Tons of useless gear drops and then you're supposed to craft improvements, but the failure mechanic (gear "cracks") is really high and that makes crafting frustrating and tedious. Last Epoch is still one of the most interesting new options.

Finally there is Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor. It's a totally different feel and play style. I like it but it scratches a different itch than the other ARPG hack-n-slash games.

Diablo 3 comes out the winner for most enjoyable experience overall. I'd like something else as a mainstay option, but I always end up coming back to it.

edit: spelling/grammar

 

[Johnway]

Some very good points. PoE whilst can offer a lot of customisable builds, the problem is that you need to have a fairly good idea of the build, the mechanics, meta etc to get anywhere. Its downright expensive to rebuild the orbs of regret/chaos orbs and for someone who doesn't get that much chaos orbs its a nightmare.

But why do i prefer PoE over Diablo3? The main thing is the support for it. New game mechanics that makes the game feel fresh or significantly different to play for every league and eventually being added into the base game. Finally the end game is probably the more compelling for me. Rather then say regrinding for grinding sake there is a second story that gives me purpose to work towards completing.